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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Our School Room

We were lucky enough to have a mudroom on the first floor that is really too big and in the wrong place for a mudroom. However, it is too small and in the wrong place for anything else too useful. My husband has often commented that it is pretty much a waste of space. It has been in the past a small playroom, a craft room and a "I don't know where this goes, so it should just go in here" room. All three of these rooms were a complete waste of space and the room was never really used. Enter stage left: my decision to homeschool Ben. Suddenly, that waste of space has a lot more potential. We didn't really have all that much money to spend on recreating this room, so I had to be creative in my designing. Overall, I think it works great for what we need.

The view from the door. Ben's desk is that small one by the window...I bought it at a consignment sale for $3. On the wall: the kids' artwork from when they were really young and their handprints. I framed them in inexpensive frames to make them look like important works of art. On the right of the window is our small bulletin board that holds Kate's memory verses and weekly lessons. It also has Benjamin's spelling words for the week. We also have a corner set bookcase (that I got from a neighbor for free) that has all of Kate's preschool workbooks and thousands of coloring books. On top of that bookcase is a basket with stuff that I want daily access to including library books for our weekly lessons and the items we need for our morning calendar routines and reading time.

My organization. These are just the inexpensive units from Target, but boy do they do the trick. The nice thing about these modular units is that they all fit together and that I can add to them as I need more space (which of course I already do). We have very tall ceiling on our first floor, so I will vertically add to them as time goes on.

Our bulletin board wall. I think it is important for my homeschooled kids to experience some of the fun aspects of a traditional school. One of my favorites: the fun bulletin boards. Basically, it was cheaper to buy 4 large bulletin boards and install them like this than it was to buy a GIGANTIC bulletin board of the same size. On it and surrounding it are the calendar, alphabet and number line that I picked up from Dollar Tree and Target.

I repurposed this desk that was up in my boys' room. I moved it downstairs and made it another workspace for Andrew to do his homework and for Kate to work at. On the ground, you can see the rug that I also repurposed from the boys' room (I had it in my pile of stuff to donate). It works perfectly in here for a lot of activities that the kids prefer to do on the floor instead of at their desks.

This corner is a small bookcase that was mine from when I was a kid. This is where I store Ben and Katie's daily work folders and finished work trays. It is also where I store the manipulatives and activities that don't really fit anywhere else. This wall also has my dry erase board.

That's the room! It will continue to be a work in progress. We spend a lot of time in here, but also a lot of time outside and all around my house. When doing larger art projects, I have a fold up, child-sized table and chairs set that I pull out.